B’nai B’rith International applauds President Barack Obama for affirming the importance of Holocaust education and remembrance and speaking of the need for a secure State of Israel in his speech yesterday at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

During his first visit to the museum as president, as part of the Days of Remembrance the president focused on the importance of teaching the next generation about the Holocaust and specifically referenced anti-Semitism as a form of hatred “which has no place in a civilized world.” President Obama will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a Polish Catholic World War II resistance fighter who passed away in 2000.

He also spoke of Israel’s fundamental right to exist in peace and security, saying: “‘Never again’ is a challenge to defend the fundamental right of free people and free nations to exist in peace and security—and that includes the State of Israel.” He noted that the United States continually rejects efforts that equate Zionism with racism and would vote against any international resolutions that unfairly single out Israel. He also expressly stated the United States’ opposition to the delegitimization of Israel.

With President Obama’s statement that “the United States will do everything in our power to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” B’nai B’rith encourages rigorous follow-through to prevent Iran—a country that denies the Holocaust and threatens Israel’s destruction—from threatening Israel and the world.